Smart Grid Interoperability Summit - List of Speakers

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Baynish Bassett has lived all his life in western Canada. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan (1970) in Political Science and Sociology. His career includes instructing in Adult Basic Education and working in employment counseling in Northern Canada.

He also has 20 years experience in Human Resources with the Alberta government, followed by 9 years of small business consulting primarily in western Canada and the western United States.

For the past 3 years he has served as General Manager of South Alta Rural Electrification Association. This is a small rural electricity co-operative in Southern Alberta. In this role, he has become involved with the smart grid/smart meter issues in Alberta.

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Electro-Federation Canada, Toronto
Vice President, Technical Services – Electrical (January 2011 to present)
Key responsibilities include:

• Reviews, advises and influences the development of codes and standards in the best interests of EFC members and Canadian consumers. Insure that the appropriate action is taken on all proposed standards, reports or technical documents which could affect the interests of EFC members.
• Manages the provisioning of technical consultations to EFC staff members as well as external industry related technical committees and sub committees on technical and policy affecting association covered products.
• Co-Chair of Canadian National Committee of IEC (CNC/IEC) Smart Grid Task Force, developing Canada's standards road map.
• Member of Standards Council of Canada's CNC/IEC, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Strategic Committee on Regulated electrical Safety, and a number of CSA technical committees

Standards Council of Canada, Ottawa
Senior Program Officer, IEC and JTC1      (October 2009 to December 2010)
Key responsibilities include:

• Develop and coordinate strategic standards policy issues for Canada's vote at International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and their Joint Technical Committee (JTC1) with International Organization for Standardization (ISO/IEC) for Information Technology;
• Secretary to the Canadian National Committee of the IEC (CNC/IEC), ensuring committee compliance with the terms of reference. Provide liaison with other National and international bodies;
• Provides guidance and policy support to over 90 of Canada's Technical Sub-Committee Officers: including several International Chairs, Secretaries and Convenors to IEC & JTC1, and other Canadian leaders (e.g. members of IEC's Standardization Management Board (SMB), Council, Council Board (CB) and Conformity Assessment Board (CAB));
• Co-Chair of CNC/IEC Smart Grid Task Force, developing Canada's standards road map.

IBM Canada Ltd., Markham, Ontario
Corporate Program Manager (USA),
Product Safety Standards and Hardware Compliance     (2001 – 2009)

• Primary role summary: Lead Corporate world-wide staff network (15 people, 10 countries) for development and advocacy of IBM technical and policy advocacy positions for both internal and external international product safety standards, hardware compliance certification schemes and standards policy management.
• Held various field and management positions with IBM Canada between 1976 and 2001.

Some Standards related Activity highlights:

1. Member of the Canadian National Committee to International Electrical Commission (CNC/IEC)
2. Past Chair of Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Steering Committee on Regulated Electrical Safety (SCORES)
3. Past Chair of Canadian Sub-committee (CSC) to the International Electrical Commission Electronic Equipment (IECEE) global certification scheme.
4. Past Chair of CSC/TC108 for product safety and energy efficiency of ICT and CE equipment.
5. Past Chair of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) Standards committee.
6. Also participated on the National JTC1, EMC and ISO Quality and Environmental Management Systems committees

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Brian Hewson joined the Ontario Energy Board in 1991. He was appointed Senior Manager, Networks & Smart Grid in July 2009. In this role, Brian is responsible for policy development related to the network businesses and the Board's role in developing and implementing a smart grid in the province of Ontario. He is also responsible for the effective implementation of policy and ensuring that issues relating to compliance with policy are efficiently dealt with.

Prior to his appointment, Brian held the role of Chief Compliance Officer where he directed the OEB's compliance and enforcement program and provided advice and direction to the industry on compliance matters through bulletins.

Previously, Brian held the position of Manager, Energy Licensing, where he oversaw the planning and coordination of the new licensing functions related to the electricity industry restructuring, as well as the development and implementation of codes related to the electricity and natural gas industries. Brian also represented the Ontario Energy Board on the Market Design Committee during the electricity restructuring process.

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Chris LeBlanc manages National Instruments North American customer and partner projects for utilities and the energy sectors.  As part of his role, his responsibility includes senior-level leadership for delivering customer solutions and planning while also acting as the communication conduit to clients and National Instruments.  

He is a member of IEEE, and actively participates with the North American Synchrosphasor Initiative and with the Center for Commercialization of Electric Technology (CCET).  LeBlanc received his electrical engineering degree from Lamar University and his expertise includes: real-time, embedded, and industrial monitoring and control systems.  He is based in Houston, Texas.

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Formerly the Electrical Superintendent with Simon Fraser University's Facilities Management department, Don joined the British Columbia Utilities Commission in May of 2007.  Don holds a Professional Engineer designation for BC, Alberta and Ontario.

As senior electrical engineer, Don was lead staff on the original FortisBC Inc. Advanced Metering Infrastructure Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and has a significant role in reviewing BC Hydro's revenue requirements applications and FortisBC's Smart Meter Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Application.

Don is currently acting as lead staff on the BC Mandatory Reliability Standards (MRS) Program and coordinates MRS activities with the National Energy Regulatory Commission and Western Electricity Coordinating Council.

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Grant Gilchrist, P. Eng., is a Principal Consultant on the Smart Grid Engineering Team at EnerNex Corporation.  He is a member of several utility data communications standards bodies including the IEC working groups for SCADA, substation automation, protocol security, and interoperability.  He is a founding member of the Technical Committee for the Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3).  He has helped several major utilities develop technical requirements for their Advanced Metering Infrastructures, and is editing the IEC 62351-5 standard for security of the IEC 60870-5 and DNP3 protocols.  Most recently, he and the EnerNex team are supporting NIST in its efforts to accelerate the Smart Grid standardization process.

Before joining EnerNex, Grant spent a total of 17 years developing embedded data communications software for GE Energy and Nortel Networks.  He has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Alberta, Canada.

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Hani Taki is a Distribution Engineer at Horizon Utilities.  Horizon Utilities is one of the largest municipally-owned electricity distribution companies in Ontario, providing electricity services to approximately 235,000 homes and businesses in the cities of Hamilton and St. Catharines.  Hani leads Horizon Utilities' smart grid initiatives and oversees generation connections and protection and control.  In his previous roles at Horizon Utilities, Hani worked in the areas of asset management, capital design, large customer connections, technical studies and energy conservation.  Hani led Horizon Utilities' preparations for the Feed-in Tariff program, and represents Horizon Utilities on Feed-in Tariff program and smart grid working groups.
 
Hani holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Engineering degree in Electric Power Engineering from the University of Waterloo.  Hani is a licenced Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario

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Haukur (Hawk) Asgeirsson is the Manager of Power Systems Technologies at Detroit Edison, a DTE Energy Company.  In his current position, he is managing number of grants related to plug-in electric vehicles, energy storage and solar integration, and the effect of distributed energy resources (DER) connecting to the grid.  Hawk is also responsible for managing a mobile fleet of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) for supporting distribution circuits and managing all DERs interconnecting to the Detroit Edison electric system.

Hawk is a member of GridApp, a consortium of utilities whose mission is to transition best smart grid technologies and best practices into broader use by member utilities. He is also an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Advisor on the Energy Storage program, the Electric Transportation program and the industry chair of the Integration of Distributed Renewable program. 

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John J. Simmins is Senior Project Manager for the Smart Grid Demonstration Projects at the Electric Power Research institute (EPRI).  His current responsibilities focus on developing robust system architecture in the demonstration projects and bringing thought leadership in the area of integrating diverse applications such as Advanced Meter Infrastructure, Meter Data Management Systems, Distribution Management Systems, Customer Information Systems, Geospatial Information Systems and Outage Management Systems.  Simmins brings over 15 years of implementing highly integrated systems which span the latest technology to mature legacy systems. 

Dr. Simmins spent six years at Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), first as consultant and then as Applications Manager.  At Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, he was responsible for developing and implementing a Service Oriented Architecture strategy and implementing numerous new systems for engineering, operations and customer service.  Dr. Simmins also played a pivotal role in developing security policies and in disaster recovery preparations. He also was responsible for a very successful effort to clean up GIS data and improve OMS accuracy.   His last efforts at SMECO were in planning and implementing a Smart Grid strategy.

Dr. Simmins is a member of the SOA Institute, the Business Process Modeling Institute and the Project Management Institute.  He received his B.S. in Ceramic Science from Alfred University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Ceramic Science from Alfred University in 1990.  Dr. Simmins has 25 published papers in the fields of science and technology, 50 presentations, two books and one patent.

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Mr. LoPorto is a Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer (BSEE) with 30 years of utility industry experience in the areas of System Planning, Distribution Standards, Asset Management, Capital and Maintenance Budget Management, Technology Strategy, and Project Management. He is currently leading a PHI wide effort to implement a variety of distribution automation projects which are partially funded by the Smart Grid Investment Grant. Mr. LoPorto's past presentations at industry conferences include the areas of Electric Magnetic Fields, Reliability, and Aging Infrastructure Strategies.

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Keith Jansa, Manager, Standards and Occupational Health & Safety, for the Canadian Electricity Association, is currently responsible for overseeing and providing direction to the development of CEA Council and CEA Board priorities with respect to Standards and Occupational Health and Safety.
 
Keith received his Bachelor degree in Health Sciences from the University of Ottawa in 2008 and certifications as a St. John Ambulance Advanced Medical First Responder, and a First-Aid, CPR and AED Instructor in 2009.
 
Keith has sound knowledge and expertise in both International Standards and National Standards of Canada development and associated processes and procedures. Furthermore, Keith has experience in the administrative processes of consensus-based committees and is currently a participating member on over 30 National and International electric utility industry applicable advisory and technical committees.

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Kevin Wood manages a staff including managers, project/program managers, and technical specialists responsible for: the design, development and operation of demand response programs for large customers (>200kW); development and evaluation of demand response emerging technologies; wholesale market integration of demand  response; and the selection, procurement, enhancements and maintenance of the system infrastructure for SCE’s portfolio of Demand Response programs. 

Kevin has worked in the electric utility industry for 30 years holding engineering and management positions in generation design, distribution design, street lighting, metering (AMI) and demand response.  Kevin’s publications include: co-authored the technical paper "Increased Utilization of Overhead Transmission Lines and Substation Equipment" in 1989; authored “SCE’s C&I Customers Manage Load in Real Time” published in Distribution World Magazine in 2003; co-inventor of “Method of Communicating Between a Utility and Its Customer Locations” (SCE’s AMI patent). Kevin has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and has been with SCE for 25 years.

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Mr. Kapner was instrumental in developing and running Austin's GreenChoice Program, the nation's leading renewable energy marketing program. He originated the "dual storage media" system for integrating off-peak wind energy and solar thermal to produce utility-scale dispatchable energy. Kapner also helped to launch Plug-In Partners, the Austin Energy-lead campaign to persuade the automobile industry to build plug-in hybrid vehicles. He has 30 years of experience in energy technology and environmental engineering and policy. Prior to coming to Austin, Kapner launched TerraSolar USA, a solar photovoltaics company based in New Jersey. He was a research and development manager in the New York Power Authority where he developed demonstration projects in energy storage, biomass energy, solar, and cogeneration. Kapner spent ten years as a consultant to federal government agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. He has a BS in Engineering Science from the State University of New York and a Masters in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

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Ralph Zucker is a professional engineer with more than 30 years experience in the electrical utility industry. He has worked in Alberta and in British Columbia in a broad range of engineering and management roles including the management of large capital programs, the development of risk management tools and strategies, system performance management, customer interfaces and policy development.

Ralph has been active in a number of community leadership roles including Leadership Vancouver, the Quality Council of BC, and the Sustainability Committee of APEGBC. Ralph has previously been a member of the CIGRE Canada Executive Committee, various EPRI Executive Committees, and has held a seat on the Board of Directors with GridWise Alliance. Now formally retired, Ralph is continuing his industry participation and service as the Executive Director for SmartGrid Canada.

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Richard is Manager of Grid Solutions at Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited. His team works collaboratively across the company to establish the necessary plans, standards, processes, skills and work instructions for the installation, and subsequent support required for the next generation “two way” grid. This new grid is expected to serve customers that have increasing needs, such as greater reliability, seamless connection, management of new loads, and resources such as Electric Vehicles, Solar Panels, Distributed Generation and additional advanced technologies.

A new arrival in Canada, Richard brings with him 25 years of experience in all aspects of the electricity network. His career began with the National Grid Company. He has also worked for the UK regulator, renewable trade associations and, most recently, was responsible for securing grid connections for all UK generation projects at Renewable Energy Systems, a global developer, constructor and operator of wind generation.

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Sila Kiliccote is the Deputy Group Leader of the PIER Demand Response Research Center and a Program Manager in the Building Technologies Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her areas of interest include characterization of building loads and demand shaping, demand responsive lighting systems, building systems integration and feedback for demand-side management. She has a master's degree in Building Science from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of New Hampshire. She has received the "Leadership in Smart Grid Acceleration Award" at GridWeek in October, 2010.

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Sol Lancashire is a specialist engineer at BC Hydro and Power Authority. From 2000 until 2008, he was with the BC Hydro Telecom Engineering Department where he designed and planned utility telecommunications systems.  Since 2008, he has served as BC Hydro's Telecom Architect within the Office of the CIO where Sol is responsible for BC Hydro's end-to-end telecommunications architecture.

Sol is Chairman of the Utility Telecom Council of Canada, an industry association promoting collaboration between electric utilities, manufactures and government specifically in the area of utility information and communication technologies.

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Tom Odell is the Manager, Electric Vehicles at Toronto Hydro Electric Systems. He is responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of electric mobility programs and the integration of electric vehicles into the developing smart grid and asset modernization programs in Toronto.

Prior to Toronto Hydro, Tom worked for 26 years in the automotive industry. He was the Canadian Product Manager for the 2012 Chevrolet Volt Electric Vehicle, addressing Canadian product, service, and infrastructure requirements ahead of the vehicle's launch. Tom also served as the Technology Planning Manager where he was responsible for forward planning of in-vehicle technologies for the Canadian market.

Prior to Product Planning he served as Senior Electrical Engineer in GM Canada's Worldwide Facilities Group.  Tom was responsible for facilities electrical engineering in the Oshawa South Plant complex and providing facilities support for the Canadian division in power systems, communications, fire and security and standards development. Tom serves on several committees related to electric vehicles and in-vehicle technology including CSA, ISO, SAE and Electric Mobility Canada.
Tom has a B.Sc. In Applied Science, Electrical Engineering, Queen's University.

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Willie Grieve was named as the first Chair of the Alberta Utilities Commission in December of 2007 and began serving in this position on February 1, 2008.

Prior to joining the AUC, Mr. Grieve served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs with TELUS, responsible for the development and implementation of the company's regulatory policies during the telecommunications industry's transformation from monopoly to competition.  Prior to his time at TELUS, he practiced law in Saskatoon, where his practice was focused on public utility and telecommunications regulation, and competition policy.

Mr. Grieve is a graduate of Carleton University (Political Science) and the University of Saskatchewan College of Law.  He is a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan and the Law Society of Alberta and serves on the Board of Governors of Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton.

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